Opinions on shooting club requirements

[TScottO]

Most of the shooting clubs I have looked into or heard bout all seem to have similar requirements. Most areas are like mine, I assume, the choices are very limited to where you can shoot if one chooses to be a member of a club or range. I would like to know how you all feel about your ranges requirements to become a member. Most clubs I have seen require a membership to the NRA. I know some avid shooters and gun owners that are opposed to the NRA for some reason or another. Some reasons I feel are legitimate and others I feel don’t hold much merit. How do you all feel about this requirement? Are there any requirements your club has that you may or may not agree with? I’d like to hear about them. I understand the liability is large for the gun range owners so there must be strict regulations. Many clubs also require you give a specified amount of community work to the range. Some peoples schedule may or may not allow this extra amount of time.

For those of us that don’t have a private place to shoot we are pretty much bent over a barrel if we want to join a club being that there are limited clubs available.

This is something I wanted to toss up in the air and see what you all think.

Good luck and be safe,
Scott

[Dragon31]

TScottO
I belong to a local gun club and yes the club requires that you belong to the NRA.  With 450+ member it is the best way we have of obtaining insurance for the club and to be associated with other like minded individuals.  Yes, not everyone sees or believes in everything the NRA does or does not do, but you've got to remember who you are and where you live,  This is the USA and I hope the day never comes when we all think, believe and do exactly the same things (you all would be a sick bunch of puppies if you all though like me).  Yes, we do require two work days per year or you pay a monitary fine.  The range needs a certain amount of maintenance, painting , lights changed, rest rooms need cleaned, grass mowed, trash burned etc.  Each of these things need man/woman power and if you belong you need to pitch in and help out.  We do as much as possible to be visible in the community by opening the range to schools, boy scouts, and the State required hunter education classes.  As to being "buzy" as an excuse for not doing your work days.  Our club has lawyers, teachers, principals, small business owners, farmers, factory workers and retirees and about every occupation that you can think of in between, all are very busy people (we like busy people they are doers).  We even have members in Iraq (I better bring that up to the board, don't think he's going to make his work days this years and I know him well enough that even though he's "buzy" he won't ask us to let it go).  Yes, we have women who are active shooters, members of our board and chairpersons  of shooting events.  The club shoots everything from Submachine guns to cowboy events.  Better than me telling you go to Redbrush.Org and check it out.

[Mikey]

TScott0:  my club is similar to the one Dragon31 belongs to but, with exceptions.  We too have work parties and the majority of the clubs income is based on hosting social events, which it is known for.  We too have a wide selection of the general population's employment types on our boards and in our memebership but the one dang thing that whizzes me off greatly is the parochial 'old boy' attitude that keeps women from becoming members.  Man, some of these closet moth catchers never show up unless they can cast a disparaging vote against women's membership, and they are the same idjits who always say 'we don't need-em'.  What nonsense - this is the most opportune time to open a clubs membership to women.  We host enough family events and women are active in all but the membership categories and that is where they should be most active.  I'm thinking about running for office just to open membership to women and to see if we can't possibly get in some CASS activities and really draw the gals in.  I feel strongly about the need for a woman's perspective and support for our second amendment sports activities and the way in which they, and only they, can swing a vote or a perspective away from the typical liberal woman's approach.  

This club also mandates NRA membership and follows NRA protocols for youth leagues and shooting/training programs.  I don't mind that.  I almost enjoy it as some of the idjits I referred to above get all hypocritical about that and they are just given the option - join or get out.  Again T - this is a time when we need all the support we can muster and whether it's the NRA or the GOA or the local Ladies Gun Totin' Auxillary, it doesn't matter, the shooting sports and the future of our Second Amendment rights depend on it.  I have advocated for an open membership got 700 some odd now- to Police and a reduced $ for the first year for Women, with open invitations to female LEOs in the area.  

I've been tossed out of bette places but never for advocating for women's rights but, I'll take a stand on this one.  M2C. Mikey.

BTW, this club has fabulous breakfasts every Sunday morning from 1/1 to 4/1 - it's almost a social hour and the food will knock ya out for the rest of the day.  Never seen anyone have enough room left to go back for seconds.

[Dragon31]

Mikey:

Women in shooting and in gun clubs.  Now that's a topic that should raise some interest among this group.  Would you be so kind to phrase the question and select the catagory to put it in.  I'll certainly put my $ .02 in.

[TScottO]

I see rhyme and reason behind many of the rules and regulations. The gun club in which I’m a member is very similar to the ones mentioned. The rules are fine by me. What spurred this post in my mind was some feed back and questions I have gotten from some of the younger guys that are beginning to take up shooting. A few different guys have asked what I thought about the rules and regulations of joining a club. Both of these guys at the time do not seem like they are willing to agree to the terms. From a newbie stand point I can seen their reasoning. But it disturbs me to see that future gunners may opt to let the bug of shooting go due to obligations or requirements to clubs. It’s hard to tell someone that is new the sport and still on the verge of wanto/wantnotto  that you will have to pay a member ship fee of $X and NRA dues of $X and a yearly range fee of $X and X amount of your time if you wish to enjoy firearms. I was also curious how everyone elses club compares to mine in requirements.

Good luck and be safe,
Scott

[securitysix]

Ours does require NRA membership, no biggie.  Our club (Tulsa Red Castle Gun Club, for those in NE Oklahoma) has a $150 initiation fee, which only has to be paid once unless you let your membership lapse.  In addition to that, there is a $95/year membership fee, of which, $35 is an NRA membership.  If you are an NRA member already, it's only $60/year.  Not bad, if you ask me.  No range fees, work party participation is optional, and your membership covers you, your spouse, and your kids.  You can bring guests free of charge, no limit on how many you can bring at a time or how many times per year you may bring them.  There are refreshments available in the club house via the vending machine.  There are also ear plugs and .22 ammo in the machine, just in case.

[Dan Chamberlain]

It's an easy thing to fix.  Two prices to join.  X dollars if you are an NRA member, and XX dollars if you are not.  Take the extra dollars for non-members, and send it to the NRA as a gift from the club!  Have the magazines sent to a nursing home or a library.

Dan C

[Savage]

In our club's mission statement it is stated: To provide a place of fellowship among like minded individuals, promote the shooting sports,  defend our right to gun ownership, and the right to bear arms as provided for in the second ammendment. As the NRA is the most powerfull voice we have, why would we not support it? It's far from perfect in it's defense of the second ammendment, and a little too political for my tastes, but where would be by now if not for the NRA? Membership in the NRA and a couple of work days a year is a small price to pay for all the benifits provided by club menbership.
Stay Safe,
Savage

[Dan Chamberlain]

Think about this logically.  There will be some people who believe that the NRA does not represent them.  Heck, if you go to another well known bulletin board, you'll find ooodles of guys who refuse to join the NRA, preferring some of the other gun-right organizations instead.  Now you have a choice.  Some of your potential members of the club will simply not join if they have to join the NRA.  Yes, it's their loss, but it's the club's loss too if the extra fees are lost.  I know, you probably don't want to associate with them anyway if they don't believe exactly the way you do!  Perhaps that's your loss.  But if someone joins the NRA they get a magazine.  They read the magazine and they either keep it or they throw it away.  However, if you have a price for club membership that allows for non-NRA members to join, but at an increased rate, and as a club you buy a membership for your local library, or hospital waiting room with the extra money, that magazine will be in circulation, reaching a lot more people who otherwise might not have been introduced to the NRA through other means.  Yes, you can force people to join the NRA if they want to have a place to shoot, but you'd be getting a better group of NRA members if force wasn't an issue.

Dan C